It’s been a really great meeting. The ideas are flying fast and furious. So fast that you want to write them down. So you grab the only marker on the flipchart easel: a red, dry-erase with a nib that looks like it’s been chewed on. You start writing as fast as you can, but ink from the half-dead marker is barely visible. You can only carry on with grim determination. The meeting ends, people leave, and you now have the unenviable task of transcribing chicken scratch into intelligible takeaways.
Flipcharts aren’t just places to take big meeting notes. They’re an important tool for a group to make decisions. When you write down someone else’s words, you’re acknowledging their ideas. You demonstrate your listening and attention. A written idea is more permanent and concrete than a spoken word. The idea gains a place and presence in the room. It’s easier for people to conceptualize an idea they can see rather than only hear.
Plus, there's a real return on investment when you use a flipchart. From Visual Language by Robert E. Horn, a study by John Sweller found that:
- Visuals produces better problem solving (45% answers correct on a test using conventional text and separate diagrams vs. 64% answers correct using integrated text and diagrams), and
- Visuals produces higher retention (22% more) and in less time (13% less.)
So let’s talk about how to take your flipcharts from good to great.
SLOW DOWN AND WRITE LESS. It’s hard to write slowly when the ideas are coming quickly. The good news is, it’s not necessary to capture everything being said verbatim. You’re not a court stenographer. Slow down. Focus on listening and synthesizing the paragraph that someone just said into the three to five words that capture the idea. All you need is enough content to create an anchor to the memory of the discussion. “I have a dream” is only four words, but it’s enough to spark the memory of their origin. BONUS TIP: Is someone being long-winded? Ask, “Can you give that to me in a way that I can write it down?”
ROUND OUT YOUR LETTERS. Avoid the tendency to use your usual handwriting on a flipchart. Practice writing like a grade-school teacher, or at least like that big alphabet that hung above the blackboard. With its big circles, Arial is a good font to practice copying. With a little practice, it’s easy to develop what calligraphers call “hands,” a different style of handwriting. BONUS TIP: Remember cursive? Use it sparingly to emphasize a particularly important word.
COOL TEXT, HOT EFFECTS. Use cool colors, like blue, green, purple, and brown, to write text. If you’re writing a list, alternate between two colors for each list item. For example blue, green, blue, green. Use the hot colors, like red, yellow, and orange, for underlines, circles, or bullets. Don’t write with hot colors. And save the black marker for the title of the flipchart. BONUS TIP: If you want to be particularly inclusive, upload a photo of a flipchart to this color blindness simulator to test your marker colors.
MAKE MARKS ON PAPER. Afraid to draw? Fine. We won’t call it drawing. We’ll call it “making marks on paper.” Make marks on paper that represent lightbulbs for ideas, a building for a business, stick people for, well, people. Adding simple icons to text greatly increases the viewers’ ability to conceptualize and retain an idea. BONUS TIP: It’s easier to make marks on paper if you have a reference image to look at. Pull out your phone and check out your emojis.
CARRY YOUR OWN MARKERS. Seriously. This is the only way to avoid that painful red dry erase marker scenario. Sharpie flipchart markers have a rounded nib, so your line width will always be consistent. If you’re stuck with a chisel nib marker, hold it so only the tip, not the flat edge of the chisel, touches the paper. That will also produce a consistent line width. BONUS TIP: Take some advice from the pros and check out www.letslettertogether.com, which takes skills from sign painting and calligraphy and turns them into easy-to-use tips for trainers and facilitators.
